The Great British Sewing Bee

Series 2
- Episode 1

Review

by Alison Graham

There’s a new sewing room in a trendy converted East End of London Thames-side warehouse and ten new hopefuls as we return to this genteel competition, the pins-and-needles version of The Great British Bake Off. Judges May Martin and the traffic-stoppingly handsome Man of the Cloth Patrick Grant are back to examine the contestants’ skills.

The excitable Claudia Winkleman is on hand as the amateurs’ chief cheerleader when they start their first challenge, making a sleeveless top from a pattern. Except for one soignée seamstress who eschews patterns to make her garments completely freehand. It’s quite a skill and one that produces some remarkable results. The group also has to customise a dull wool maxi skirt (“they look slightly like a pair of ears” says Patrick of a couple of flounces or “godets”). It’s a polite hour, with only a few overwrought tears.

Summary

The contest to find Britain's best amateur sewer returns, this time with 10 competitors trying to impress judges May Martin from the Women's Institute and Savile Row designer Patrick Grant. In the first set of challenges, they must make a simple tunic out of cotton, transform a plain high-street woollen skirt in just 90 minutes, and fit a model with a made-to-measure silk nightgown. Presented by Claudia Winkleman.